Tools and Resources

PID Forums and Education

The Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman holds regular forums for Authorised Officers. For information about upcoming events or PID related inquiries contact our PID Team at pid@ombudsman.gov.au or on 1300 362 072.

Notifications

Notification forms

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (PID Act) requires agencies to notify the Ombudsman of the following:

• an allocation or reallocation of a disclosure
• a decision not to allocate a disclosure
• a decision not to investigate a disclosure or not further investigate
• an extension of time to investigate a public interest disclosure (PID)
• a finalised investigation
• a stop action direction issued by the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

Forms are provided to facilitate these notifications and requests:

For disclosures made before 1 July 2023.

• Form 2 – Notification of decision not to investigate or not to investigate further
• Form 3 – Extension of time to investigate a PID

For disclosures made on or after 1 July 2023

• Form 1 – Notification of allocation or reallocation
• Form 2 – Notification of decision not to investigate or not to investigate further
• Form 3 – Extension of time to investigate a PID
• Form 4 – Notification of decision not to allocate
• Form 5 – Notification of a finalised PID investigation
• Form 6 – Notification of a stop action direction

Email completed notification forms to pid@ombudsman.gov.au

Legislation

• Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (legislation.gov.au)
• Public Interest Disclosure Amendment (Review) Standard 2023 (legislation.gov.au)

Commonwealth Ombudsman Reports

• The Ombudsman’s report into an Own Motion Investigation into compliance with the PID Act by 4 Commonwealth agencies.
• A full copy of the Ombudsman's 2021-22 Annual Report is available from our Publications page.

Guides

The Agency Guide to the PID Act explain the PID scheme, set out the obligations of agencies and suggest best practice for handling public interest disclosures.

• Chapter 1 - Introduction
• Chapter 2 – How the public interest disclosure scheme works
• Chapter 3 – Agency obligations
• Chapter 4 – Receiving internal disclosures
• Chapter 5 – Initial assessment and allocation under the PID Act
• Chapter 6 – Deciding whether to investigate under the PID Act
• Chapter 7 – Conducting an investigation
• Chapter 8 – Support and protection under the PID Act
• Chapter 9 – The role of key agencies
• Chapter 10 – Interaction between the NACC and the PID framework

Additional Commonwealth Ombudsman Guides and Resources for handling Public Interest Disclosures (Information will be published when available).

• Guide to making a disclosure under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013
• Guide to assessing and managing the risk of reprisal
• Guide - Supervisors and the PID Act
• Public Interest Disclosure Scheme Reference Guide - setting out key actions for officers with a role in the PID scheme
  • Printable Brochure
• Handling a PID Flowchart (A3)
• Authorised Officer Flowchart

Information Sheets and FAQs

Please note the content in this section is under construction following recent amendments to the PID Act. Information will be published when available.

• PID - About the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013
• PID – Key Changes to the PID Scheme
• PID - Personal work-related conduct
• PID - How to make a public interest disclosure
• PID - New responsibilities and powers of Principal Officers
• PID - New responsibilities and powers of Authorised Officers
• PID - New responsibilities and powers of Investigation Officers
• PID - Roles of the Ombudsman and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security
• PID - New responsibilities and powers of Supervisors
• PID - Managing the risk of reprisal
• PID - Frequently asked questions
• PID - Finding the right outcome
• PID - Interactions between NACC and PID
• PID - Application of reforms

PID e-learning

The PID e-learning module will teach you about what a PID is, how you can make one, the protections that are available to disclosers and the process of a PID investigation.

We currently do not host the e-learning module on our website, however the required files to run this module are below. If your agency would like to use the PID e-learning module as a part of your educational tools, we suggest you talk to your LMS administrator to ensure the correct publishing standard of the module is selected for downloading.

• PID e-learning module 2024 - Story file (31.7 MB)
• PID e-learning module 2024 - SCORM files 1 (23.3 MB)
• PID e-learning module 2024 - SCORM files 2 (23.3 MB)

PID Logo

Government agencies, Commonwealth companies and public authorities are encouraged to use the universal, easily identifiable PID icon as a link on their internal and external websites to facilitate agencies' PID policies and procedures. The graphics are available in various formats for download:

• GIF  ... [large] [medium] [small]
• PNG ... [extra-large] [large] [medium] [small]
• JPG ... [extra-large] [large] [medium] [small]
• EPS ... [extra-large]